Kelsey Cross, 14, of Gorham with her cow Socks, after showing him at the Fryeburg Fair last year. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

If you’re a fair fanatic, fall in Maine is a good time for you.

The last four agricultural fairs of the season are held in the next couple of weeks, with three of them overlapping for a day or two.

Farmington Fair is open now through Saturday, Common Ground Country Fair in Unity runs Friday through Sunday, and the Cumberland County Fair in Cumberland runs Sunday through Sept. 28. Fryeburg Fair closes out the season Sept. 29 through Oct. 6.

The range of fair experiences available these two weeks is pretty dramatic. Get old-time smash-up derby action in Farmington, lessons on composting and a manure pitching contest at Common Ground, and watch horse races and pig races in Cumberland, just a few minutes from Portland. Then in Fryeburg, enjoy frying pan tossing and axe throwing contests, as well as sheepdogs tending their herds.

Here, then are ideas on how to make the most of these last four Maine fairs. You can find links to information on each fair at mainefairs.net. 

Fair mash-up

One fun way to approach these last four fairs is to see how many different fair experiences you can squeeze into one day, or a couple of back-to-back days.

Farmington and Unity are only about an hour apart from one another, but the fairs are very different. Farmington offers a classic small-town fair with rides, games, demolition derbies and plenty of good, greasy fair food. Common Ground is run by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, with a strong emphasis on education and sustainable farming.

You could start your day Saturday at Common Ground attending workshops and talks on plant medicine, chicken first aid and how to afford a tiny house, then end your day in Farmington enjoying the games and rides on the midway and the demolition derby.

On Sunday, you might begin at Cumberland by watching preparations for the fair’s famous Giant Pumpkin contest, starting at 9 a.m., and a miniature horse show around the same time. Then you could drive 90 minutes or so to Unity (maybe add a couple hours onto that for the inevitable traffic jam) and catch a session on seed cleaning, a talk called “Deciding on cues for your horse,” and a 3:30 p.m. show by the popular Maine-based Oshima Brothers band.

But if you want to take a more traditional one-person-one fair approach, here’s a little more information on each one.

Go face to face with the sheep at the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Farmington Fair – Through Saturday

The surroundings at Farmington, located in the state’s scenic Western Mountains, are part of the experience. It’s also a place for horsing around, with its equine-heavy schedule. Horse-pulling contests (horses pull heavy weights and are judged on distance) begin at noon most days, while horse racing with betting begins at 2 p.m. every day. The midway, with rides and carnival games, is open daily from 3-8 p.m. Truck and tractor-pulling competitions are scheduled on Friday night. The Heart of Maine Dairy Goat Show kicks off the last day, Saturday, at 9 a.m. The demolition derby ends the fair, Saturday at 6 p.m.

Horses shoot down the racetrack at the Farmington Fair in 2022. Kay Neufeld/Franklin Journal

Common Ground Country Fair – Friday through Sunday

The fair features more than 700 presentations over three days. Just a very few of the many topics you can learn about are living off the grid, soil testing, tiny houses, forestry and sustainability skills. But it’s not all workshops and seminars. There are a host of family activities most days, including shaking cream into butter at 10 a.m., making corn husk dolls at 1 p.m., and a nature-based art project at 3 p.m. The fair also offers wagon rides, bike safety demonstrations and live musical acts. Don’t miss the twice-daily Garden Parade, where fairgoers dress up as fruits and vegetables, at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

One of the fair’s best-known events is the Truman Games, a manure-shoveling contest held on Friday and Saturday, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Former President Harry S. Truman was famous for salty language and not taking any (expletive deleted) from anyone, thus, the event was named for him.

A Garden Parade at last year’s Common Ground Country Fair. David Leaming photo

Cumberland County Fair – Sunday through Sept. 28

The Cumberland County Fair gives people from Greater Portland an easy chance to see how vibrant area farming still is. Farm animals and 4-H competitions are a focus, with lots of local kids showing off the animals they’ve been raising all year. On Sunday, take in a dairy goat show, a kids’ steer pulling contest (the steers pull the weight, but they’re directed by the kids), a 4-H rabbit show and poultry judging. A Grand Parade winds its way through the fairgrounds at 11 a.m., with farmers as part of the procession.

A highlight of the fair are the daily pig races, usually around 6 or 6:30 p.m., starring kids and the pigs they’ve been training to run (well, hurry along anyway) to favorite treats. On race day, the kids set down the treat (Oreos and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have been known to work) and let the pigs go. Other highlights include rodeo performances, a midway, blacksmith demos and ox pulling.

Members of the Cumberland County 4-H Swiners club tempt their pigs with tasty treats during the pig races at the Cumberland County Fair in 2022. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Fryeburg Fair – Sept. 29 through Oct. 6

The state’s largest fair, Fryeburg often draws more than 200,000 fairgoers. Sure, it’s crowded, but here you can sample pretty much everything an agricultural fair has to offer, from baking contests, horse pulling and milking parlors to a firemen’s muster, sheepdog trials and horse racing.

The pig scrambles typically draw big crowds on both Sunday mornings of the fair. The pulling ring is usually packed to the rafters with people watching as a group of youngsters run around, each trying to catch a squealing piglet in a burlap sack. Each child gets the option of taking the pig home and raising it.

Monday is always the Woodsman’s Field Day, a rare opportunity to see men and women show off traditional forestry and logging skills in competition. The day’s 28 events include bucksaw, tree felling, crosscut, axe throwing and springboard. The last is where woodsmen (and women) work their way up a pole by chopping a notch into it, placing a board in the notch, standing on the board to chop another notch, then place another board, and so on.

A group of girls present their Nubian goats at the 4-H Dairy Goat show at the Fryeburg Fair in 2023. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer